With the barrow collapsed and the off-brand dungeon destroyed, Calaf and Jelena found themselves exhausted and covered in barrow-dust. They cleaned up as well as possible then were offered (separate) rooms in the town’s modest inn free of charge for their good deed. A grand total of three rooms were available – the inn’s entire stock – and Calaf, Jelena, and Zilara occupied all three. Enkidu, as always, kept watch in the hall, eyes closed but ever alert.

  Though the town’s nominal claim to fame was destroyed, Harold didn’t act mad. Neither were they run out of town by an angry mob.

  “Eh, it was an eyesore anyway,” Harold had said.

  Calaf was too tired to dwell on the significance of destroying the ancient barrow, burial ground to untold hundreds. Guilt came after he awoke. It proved that he was still in a chivalrous mindset, at least.

  With zero services of any kind in this minor hamlet, the group took off in the morning to the south and west. They skirted the woods, and nobody particularly wanted to travel in their exhausted states, but by late afternoon they were in the idyllic hot spring groves of Twelfthnight.

  Along the way, Calaf explained the origins of the Fell Barrow Dungeon

  “Honest John, huh?” Jelena wrinkled her nose. “Sounds familiar. Don’t think I’ve ever met him though. You said he got ahold of some of the level-up relics?”

  Calaf nodded.

  “Ah.” Jelena shuffled about, uncharacteristically awkward. “Enkidu and I put that out for auction on fire sale prices. Just trying to fund our trip north for a few weeks until the next big scam.”

  The relic thief put a fist up to her eyepatch and knocked on it as if to say, ‘My bad’. She also put her tongue out. This went a long way to getting Calaf to forgive her the slight. Yes, when Jelena smiled suddenly everything just felt forgivable.

  The town of Twelfthnight was nearly empty in the off-season. With the summer heat hanging close in a stifling humidity, there wasn’t a market for hot springs. The town received some traffic in the winter but for the most part, the village shuttered up until year’s end.

  This is to say, there was no problem acquiring a room at a premier inn for less than the gold winnings Calaf had earned from that rat king.

  Dwelling secure, the group went their separate ways for the afternoon. Enkidu went to meditate atop a rock. Zilara ran off to read Interface designations of the local dire-pigeon population. Calaf, meanwhile, waited in his room.

  The Squire contemplated the trajectory of his life. His betrothal, severed. His promised position in the church wasn’t panning out. Why, the only act he’d gotten any sense of accomplishment out of recently was wandering the roads and helping people, often by accident.

  Well, there was one way that would ensure he could still wander the pilgrimage stations as a ‘career’ so to speak. Calaf and Jelena had come to an agreement before the charm mishap. Hopefully, she was still open to that after he’d attempted to stab her in a charmed stupor.

  Hours of brooding passed before there was a knock on the door. Calaf opened the door, found nobody at eye-level, and then looked down.

  Zilara stared, still in her glamor-ring disguise.

  “Hoss says you should head to the hot spring.”

  “Jelena?” Calaf cocked his head.

  Zilara nodded hers. “Yeah. Said you’d know the one.”

  Very well. Calaf equipped what effects he could on short notice and took off towards the village hot springs.

  ‘You’d know the one.’ Calaf wondered what she meant by that. She couldn’t possibly…

  The sun set late at this point in summer. During the pilgrimage it was already dark at this hour. But now the sun was just beginning to dip below the tree line.

  Whatever could Jelena be planning?

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  Calaf waited until the late evening. He hung about the base of the stairs, resting his feet in the hot springs – they seriously ached from the months of travel. Muscles relaxed as he stood there sweating it out amidst layers of steam

  Then, as evening gave way into night, Calaf received a visitor.

  “Hey there, Hot Shot.”

  A figure stepped down the long stairwell, silhouetted by a full moon. Not long ago it was Calaf heading down the stairs. Now, though, Jelena entered the springs sans eyepatch and wrapped in only a towel.

  “Took a while to find a towel that wasn’t Interface-compatible,” Jelena said.

  The relic thief walked down the stairs, then to the edge of the springs. There, with one foot in the water, she dropped the towel.

  “It’s just not as appealing if you select it and whisk it into an Interface, yes?”

  Did you really send Zilara to summon me for a booty call, Calaf thought but knew better than to say.

  Jelena sashayed into the waters, disappearing into the steam. Desert women had immaculate backsides, man. Her whole body was just curve atop sexy, inticing curve. Riverglen girls couldn’t possibly compare. The na?ve young Squire found himself following close at her heels, rapidly unequipping clothing and items until his armor and gear was out of the way. To his delight, Jelena’s slender nails were held around the small of her back, gently waving at him. Beckoning him closer.

  It was the off-season. None would disturb them at this hour.

  A full moon hung high in the sky as the pair grew better acquainted with each other at the far end of the hot spring. Jelena and Calaf mostly continued where they’d left off in the library, with the added benefit of already being out of their clothes.

  Calaf pressed into his once-rival as she leaned back against the edge of the springs. Her full, voluptuous form was open to him, inviting. His hands moved on instinct, resting on Jelena’s thighs.

  “Mmm. Nice and eager,” Jelena purred as Calaf’s lips explored along her collarbone. “That’s good. Keep it up, Hot Shot.”

  With nothing left to stop them, Calaf would earn far more than that simple kiss-stealer status.

  Far too eager to sit there and receive, Jelena led Calaf by the hand. She only needed a bit of prodding, and instinct did the rest.

  “… If I didn’t trust that oh-so chivalrous Squirely honor code of yours, I’d say you knew what you were doing already.”

  Still, Calaf kissed along her neck and chest more fervently. Jelena bit her lip.

  “Ah.” Jelena gasped. “Or maybe you’re just a natural.”

  The relic thief grabbed the edge of the spring and pulled herself up and out of the water. She was entirely bare, water cascading off her curves.

  “Well, Hot Shot. So eager. I think we can move ahead to the really fun parts,” she began, looking down at him with both her natural and her Scoured eye.

  Calaf wasted no time, leaning up to kiss her navel. She rolled her stomach against Calaf’s hands and lips. As his kisses ventured lower still, she stroked her nails through his hair. She gazed down at her onetime nemesis with a smoldering I-always-get-what-I-want look upon her face.

  Summer nights were so humid that they weren’t growing cold even with Calaf’s torso out of the water. Jelena leaned back, thighs open.

  “Oh~” Jelena said, breath leaving her as her eyes fluttered. “That’s~ well… by the priestess’s blessed womb, that’s… mmm… heavenly.”

  She bit her lip, stifling any further moans. A hand ventured down to Calaf’s open jaw. Two fingers daintily shut his mouth, then tugged him up and out of the springs into a tongue-intertwining kiss.

  Now fully out of the springs, Calaf clambered atop Jelena. Water cascaded off the pair and onto the wooden planks by the poolside, some plush towels placed over the lip for just such an occasion.

  “Come, dear Calaf,” Jelena beckoned. “I can still feel some inhibitions there. Just let go with me. Put those instincts to good use.”

  Calaf gazed down at the bombshell relic thief who’d just wrapped her powerful legs around him to draw him in closer. Her Branded eye gazed back at him, clouded and Scoured. While her good eye pierced him with a steely and coquettish gaze. The frayed Brand did little to diminish her beauty. And her naturally coiled-curly hair, still mostly dry, sprawled out on the ground like a halo.

  Instincts would take him far. Still…

  “Just follow my lead.” She kissed him again. “Let me teach you exactly what you need.”

  There would be no more experienced teacher in the realm. And they were in a secluded environment of perfect romance.

  Calaf responded with just a nod. Jelena answered it with a smile before swiftly taking charge of the situation.

  The pair pressed closer still by the poolside. If it were possible to mold together into one organism Calaf would have found the way there. Jelena’s instructions were followed, dutifully, to the letter. Then, with an intent motion, a mutual gasp, and a fulfilling sensation Calaf had never experienced before…

  Calaf gazed into Jelena’s alluringly mismatched eyes. They’d passed the point of no return. Squirely vows of chastity were broken, irrecoverable. At least he’d had the good sense to call off his previous engagement before succumbing to temptation. But now, everyone he passed on the street would know what he’d been doing out of the bounds of Menu-mandated matrimony.

  Even so, the pleasurable sensations only built. He felt a connection with Jelena, one that transcended their physical selves (though they were certainly connected that way now, too).

  “It’s okay,” Jelena said, looking up at him rapturously. “Don’t worry about anyone or anything else. It’ll be… ah, fine.”

  His new paramour ran a hand along his chest. “Just stay with me. You’re almost there, Hot Shot. Just… keep it up.”

  The pair embraced, lips melding together. Calaf pressed further, eliciting a gasp.

  “O-oh,” Jelena’s breath hitched. “Like that. Mmm, more of that~”

  The pair remained undisturbed in their private hot springs even as the night wore on.